Hair dryers have become commonplace as daily appliances. Whether for personal use after washing one's hair, or for setting after a permanent in a salon setting, among other situations, the need to provide a heated air source to keratin fibers is standard in our everyday lives. Such devices have typically been commercialized as hand-held appliances, particularly for personal use, basically plugged into outlets and utilized for directed, heated air applications. Past hair dryers of this type typically have a dedicated handle from which a cord extends for access to an electrical outlet, as well as controls for activation and selection of air speeds and/or temperature levels (although limited to low, medium, and high as well as hot or cool). The inner components typically include a switch leading to a universal motor device that creates an airflow from an air intake that ostensibly forces air (at selected speeds, as noted above) through either a bank of metal coils or a ceramic heater that heats upon passage of electrical charge there through. The heated air generated in such a manner is then blown through a directed nozzle for controlled application to the user's hair. The user generally is accorded the ability to move around during such an exercise, limited solely by the extended cord length leading from the dryer to the electrical source.
Standard bonnet hair dryers include much of the same types of components, although such devices are commonly provided in chair or, at least, placed structures requiring a user to remain stationary during such a drying operation. Some alternative devices, however, have been developed in the prior art that allow for a user to move around freely while wearing such a dryer device with a flexible hose and bonnet attachment in place. These types of appliances, however, have been provided in large, bulky, if not cumbersome, form, requiring the user to carry such devices with backpack-like implements, shoulder harness attachments, and/or other like limited carrying structures. Likewise, such carry articles have been provided in such large scale manners that there is little to no discussion within such teachings of the need, let alone importance, of insulating components therein for comfort and protection to the wearer. Some rechargeable (cordless) varieties of hair dryers have been taught in the past; however, such structures are noticeably, again, bulky or do not include a heating element within the dryer body (some, for instance, include heating coils within the bonnet itself). Thus, although cordless devices may generate a certain amount of heat during use from the rechargeable battery itself, such has not been taught within the prior art as a means for a heat source that may be applied to the user's hair as needed and/or desired. In other words, hair dryers have been provided in one or the other variety. A versatile, cordless, and wearable (if desired) hair dryer device that is all-encompassing and may be utilized in personal and salon settings, and may be provided as a hand-held or bonnet-type device on demand, has yet to be disclosed within the hair dryer art as of today,
There thus exists a distinct need to provide an effective portable, wearable hair dryer device for these reasons. To date, as noted above, there is a lack of such appliances that allow for such desirable attributes, particularly as it pertains to the ability to accord a user the choice to utilize a hand-held device or a wearable and movable during use bonnet-type without impeding individuals' movements thereunder. The present invention, then, makes up for such deficiencies.